Video monitoring devices allow individuals and businesses to monitor premises for various purposes, including, e.g., security, baby or elderly monitoring, videoconference, or the like, or any combinations thereof. The motion-detection technology often employs video monitoring device to detect an instance of a motion event, for example a break-in. When a motion event is detected, the video monitoring device may automatically record videos and/or send an alert to a user (e.g., the premise owner) or a third-party (e.g., a police station or security firm).
A conventional video monitoring device detects a motion event based on algorithms or rules implemented in hardware or firmware during manufacturing. One problem is that the conventional video monitoring devices often falsely recognize a non motion event as a motion event or a legitimate motion event as an illegitimate one. Consequently, useless videos may be recorded and/or false alerts sent, incurring unnecessary costs. For example, a conventional video monitoring device may not be able to distinguish a pet from an intruder, and the motion of a pet in a house could be detected as an illegitimate motion event, and a false alert could be sent. Hardware implementation of the algorithms for motion detection and alert generation does not allow correction for such false alerts. On the other hand, even though manufacturers or vendors may update the detection algorithms implemented in firmware, updates generally take a long time and are slow to react to problems identified in actual use. Moreover, firmware implementation depends on CPU performance and therefore prohibits complex algorithms that require a large amount of computation.
Another problem with conventional motion detection devices is that, because users' needs and conditions of premises may differ, the algorithms may work for one user but not another. For example, when a vehicle passes a house, light from the vehicle may pass through the windows of the house, causing light-condition changes in the house. Such light-condition changes may be common in some areas, e.g., near busy streets, and are generally acceptable. But in remote areas, such light-condition changes may indicate an unauthorized intrusion and should be reported to the owner. In another example, a user may have a different time window than other uses during which the user does not wish to detect motion or receive an alert for a detected motion event. The convention motion device using a common algorithm may generate and send unwanted alerts to the user during that particular time window. Firmware updates in the conventional motion detection devices do not solve such problem.